“Fuck.”
Sage was moving him, lifting him gingerly, and Will yelped at a touch against his wound.His side was on fire, his lungs as well.The loup-garou’s claws had gone deeper than Will had first thought.
“Truly mended be the skin, truly mended, without, within,” Sage said, then said it again.“Think it in that beautiful wolf head of yours, okay, sweetcakes?Think it while I say it.Truly mended be the skin, truly mended, without, within.Come on, Will, help me out here.”
Sage repeated the spell a third time.He sounded like someone had taken away all his cushions.
Will didn’t see the point of him trying magic in this form, but his mate was asking him to, so he did his best.Truly mended, skin, bone, tissue.He hung on Sage’s every word, and after several repetitions, he felt the magic, felt it flow through and out of him, similar to how the change flowed through his whole body.The pain eased, and Will felt better.
“Wow.”Sage cupped Will’s face.“Wow.You truly are a witch wolf, sweetcakes.But if you ever fucking do a spell like that on me again when I’m about to blast a fucking loup-garou to bits, I’ll never let you lick me again.Ever.”
Will bumped into Sage, because Sage was making no sense.Yipping from the door made Will jump up and stand in front of Sage with his hackles raised.The two black and silver-eyed wolves were back, and Carl, the one on the right, had his gaze focused on Sage’s hand in Will’s fur.
“Who are you?Can you come closer and let me have a look?”Sage asked.
Of course.Will’s human mate couldn’t smell, couldn’t tell from the want in Carl’s eyes who the wolf was.
Carl felt invited, and stepped closer, not even having the courtesy to lower his head or tail in Will’s territory.He was bigger than Will, but Will didn’t give a fuck.Will growled.
“Oh for—wait.All the growling again.Carl?That you?”
Carl huffed and nodded in a very human way.
“Uhm.Okay.Is the loup-garou still around?”
Carl shook his head.Some tension eased out of Will’s muscles.
“Did you kill them?”
Carl shook his head, and the female wolf next to him made an irritated noise.Will thought they were probably littermates—twins—given how similar they looked in fur.
“Either of you hurt?”
Both wolves shook their heads, the female looking irritated as she did so.Will was glad these two had been here, and he wouldn’t want to end up on the wrong side of their muzzles.It didn’t mean Will would show his belly to Carl though, or let Sage out of his sight around him.
“Right.So I’m guessing you have a reason for showing up here just when some loup-garou freak managed to break through the wards.”
Carl made a wolf noise Will recognized as agreement, ramped up so a human could understand.
“Do you think you can call me and tell me in the morning?When talking’s on the table again?”
Carl nodded.He glanced at Will again, and Will could tell there was bitterness there.Will might even have sympathized if Carl’s interest had been focused on anyone other than Will’s own mate.
Before they left, both Carl and his sister broke into low howls.Will joined in, acknowledging that they had gotten rid of the loup-garou together.
“Okay, yeah, big bad wolf.Love it.Beautiful singing voice,” Sage said.He was still on his knees next to Will and was holding his ears.Will stopped and booped Sage’s nose.“Yikes!Wet wolf nose!Stop!I’m beginning to see Peter’s point about the manners.Bye, Carl, and whoever that is with you.”
Carl and his sister left through the open back door, moving as silently as they had during the attack.Will groaned and licked Sage’s neck before his mate could pull back.
“Fine, okay.”Sage eventually stood.“Right.Let’s go check why the damn warding didn’t do its job.”Will didn’t especially like the sound of that, but he followed Sage, who put his palms on the walls either side of the laundry room’s doorframe, on the walls in the hallway outside, and on the back door and its frame.Will always checked that it was locked, and the lock wasn’t broken.
“Someone used magic to sneak in here,” Sage said.“The warding’s still working flawlessly, but then, it wasn’t designed to keep other magic out.Granny made it so humans would stay outside.”
Sage opened the back door, and it looked to Will as if he wanted to go outside, so he carefully took Sage’s shirt in his teeth to hold him back.
Sage turned.“Stop that.I need to get to the witch’s stone in the garden.It anchors the protective wards, and I’d like to ramp those up, stat.You can watch my back, okay?”
Will growled, but he let Sage go.He didn’t like it, but if the loup-garou came back, functioning wards would be better than another surprise in the laundry room.Or worse.
